Rapper's Delight
"Rapper's Delight" is a hip-hop/rap song recorded and released in September 1979 by The Sugarhill Gang, and produced by Sylvia Robinson. Robinson also performed the vibraphone on the track. While it was not the first single to feature rapping (for example, using Cockney-like vocal patterns, Anglo band Ian Dury & the Blockhead's "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" peaked at #3 on the British music charts in spring 1979) is generally considered to be the song that introduced hip hop music to audiences in the United States and around the world. The song is ranked #251 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #2 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs. It is also included in NPR's list of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. It was preserved into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2011.2 Songs on the National Recording Registry are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."3 The song was recorded in a single take.4 There are three versions of the original version of the song: 14:35 (12" long version), 6:30 (12" short version), and 4:55 (7" shortened single version). Contents 1 Background 2 History 3 In popular culture 4 Charts and certifications 4.1 Weekly charts 4.2 Year-end charts 4.3 Certifications and sales 4.4 Chart succession 5 References 6 External links Background In late 1978, Debbie Harry suggested that Chic's Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein at a hip hop event, which at the time was a communal space taken over by teenagers with boombox stereos playing various pieces of music that performers would break dance to. Rodgers experienced this event the first time himself at a high school in the Bronx. On September 20, 1979, and September 21, 1979, Blondie and Chic were playing concerts with The Clash in New York at The Palladium. When Chic started playing "Good Times", rapper Fab Five Freddy and the members of the Sugarhill Gang ("Big Bank Hank" Jackson, Mike Wright, and "Master Gee" O'Brien), jumped up on stage and started freestyling with the band. A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of New York club Leviticus and heard the DJ play a song which opened with Bernard Edwards's bass line from Chic's "Good Times". Rodgers approached the DJ who said he was playing a record he had just bought that day in Harlem. The song turned out to be an early version of "Rapper's Delight", which also included a scratched version of the song's string section. Rodgers and Edwards immediately threatened legal action over copyright, which resulted in a settlement and their being credited as co-writers.5 Rodgers admitted that he was originally upset with the song, but later declared it to be "one of his favorite songs of all time" and his favorite of all the tracks that sampled (or in this instance interpolated) Chic. He also stated: "As innovative and important as 'Good Times' was, 'Rapper's Delight' was just as much, if not more so."7 "Rapper's Delight" is said to be the song that popularized rap music and put it into the mainstream. A substantial portion of the early stanzas of the song's lyrics was borrowed by Jackson from "Grandmaster Caz" (Curtis Fisher) who had loaned his 'book' to him—these include a namecheck for "Casanova Fly," which was Caz's full stage name.8 Before the "Good Times" background starts, the intro to the recording is an interpolation of "Here Comes That Sound Again" by British studio group Love De-Luxe, a dance hit in 1979. According to Oliver Wang, author of the 2003 Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide, recording artist ("Pillow Talk") and studio owner Sylvia Robinson had trouble finding anyone willing to record a rap song. Most of the rappers who performed in clubs did not want to record, as many practitioners believed the style was for live performances only. It is said that Robinson's son heard a rapper in a pizza place, and the rapper was persuaded to come to a studio and record someone else's words while "Good Times" was played. Chip Shearin said in a 2010 interview that at age 17, he was visiting a friend in New Jersey. The friend knew Robinson, who needed some musicians for various recordings, including "Rapper's Delight". Shearin's job on the song was to play the bass for 15 minutes straight, with no mistakes. He was paid $70 but later went on to perform with Sugarhill Gang in concert. Shearin described the session this way: The drummer and I were sweating bullets because that's a long time. And this was in the days before samplers and drum machines, when real humans had to play things. ... Sylvia said, 'I've got these kids who are going to talk real fast over it; that's the best way I can describe it.'9 Wang said: "There's this idea that hip-hop has to have street credibility, yet the first big hip-hop song was an inauthentic fabrication. It's not like the guys involved were the 'real' hip-hop icons of the era, like Grandmaster Flash or Lovebug Starski. So it's a pretty impressive fabrication, lightning in a bottle."9 History "Rapper's Delight" peaked at #36 in January 1980 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart,10 #4 on the U.S. Hot Soul Singles chart in December 1979,11 #1 on the Canadian Singles Chart in January 1980,12 #1 on the Dutch Top 40, and #3 on the UK Singles Chart. The single sold over 2 million copies in the United States, grossing US$3.5 million for Sugar Hill Records.13 In 1980 the song was the anchor of the group's first album The Sugarhill Gang. It was the first Top 40 song to be available only as a 12-inch extended version in the U.S. Early pressings (very few) were released with a red label, with black print, on Sugarhill Records, along with a 7" 45rpm single (which is very rare). Later pressings had the more common blue label, in orange colored "roulette style" sleeves, while even later pressings were issued in the more common blue sleeves with the Sugarhill Records logo. In Europe, however, it was released on the classic 7-inch single format on French pop label Vogue, with a shorter version of the song. It was this 7" single that reached number one in the Dutch chart. The song ranked #248 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".9 A British version of the song, with rewritten lyrics, was recorded for the song's 25th anniversary in 2004 by an ensemble of performers including Rodney P, Chester P, Kano, Simone, Yungun, Sway, J2K, Swiss, Baby Blue, Skibadee, Luke Skys, and MC D.14 In popular culture In 1998 in the movie The Wedding Singer, Ellen Albertini Dow (as the character Rosie) performed some of the song. Her performance was also featured on the film’s soundtrack. During a dream sequence in the 2003 film Kangaroo Jack, the titular kangaroo sings a bit of the song. In "My Old Friend's New Friend", a 2004 episode of the TV sitcom Scrubs, the Sugar Hill Gang appears in two of J.D.'s fantasies singing the song. The song is featured on the soundtrack of the 2004 game Tony Hawk's Underground 2. A February 2014 episode of Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon featured a mashup video of Brian Williams singing the song during the show's first week. The video also included Lester Holt.1516 The song is mentioned in the 2015 song "Art Deco" by Lana Del Rey. "Pig Out", a 2015 episode of the The Muppets, featured the Swedish Chef singing the song. Redfoo of LMFAO released his solo debut album, Party Rock Mansion, on March 18, 2016. The third track on the album, titled "Too Much", resembles "Rapper's Delight". The song is sung by the main characters in the 2016 movie Everybody Wants Some!!. The song was featured in Apple's 2016 WWDC conference, when Bozoma Saint John demonstrated the features of the revamped Apple Music application. On the Fox comedy The Simpsons, the song was parodied on a safety video using the lyrics to tell children to use a cross walk to cross the street. Charts and certifications Weekly charts Chart (1979–1980) Peak position Australia (ARIA)17 37 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)18 5 Canada (RPM)19 1 France (IFOP) 20 2 Germany (Official German Charts)21 3 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)22 1 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)23 18 Norway (VG-lista)24 2 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)25 2 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)26 2 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)27 3 US Billboard Hot 10028 36 Year-end charts Chart (1980) Peak position Canada Top Singles (RPM)29 27 France (IFOP)30 33 Certifications and sales Region Certification Certified units/Sales Canada (Music Canada)31 Platinum 100,000^ Spain (PROMUSICAE)32 Gold 10,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)33 Silver 250,000^ United States 2,000,00013 France 623,00034 ^shipments figures based on certification alone Chart succession Preceded by "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes Canadian Singles Chart January 26 – February 2, 1980 Succeeded by "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers Preceded by "I Have a Dream" by ABBA Dutch number-one single February 2–16, 1980 Succeeded by "Crying" by Don McLean References Jump up ^ Lynch, Joe (October 13, 2014). "35 Years Ago, Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight' Made Its First Chart Appearance". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015. Jump up ^ "Complete National Recording Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 18 December 2015. Jump up ^ "New Entries to National Recording Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved 18 December 2015. Jump up ^ "'Rapper's Delight'". National Public Radio. December 29, 2000. Retrieved 2010-12-20. The story goes that Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike, and Master Gee met Sylvia Robinson on a Friday and recorded "Rapper's Delight" the following Monday in just one take. Jump up ^ "The Story of Rapper's Delight by Nile Rodgers". RapProject.tv. Retrieved 2008-10-12. Jump up ^ "Nile Rodgers interviewed by Peter Paphides". Twentyfirstcenturymusic.blogspot.com. November 10, 2011. Retrieved on 2011-11-13 from http://twentyfirstcenturymusic.blogspot.com/2011/11/nile-rodgers-interviewed-by-peter.html. Jump up ^ 1 Archived October 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ "Writing cred for 'Rapper's Delight' sparks grudge". New York Post. Retrieved October 12, 2015. ^ Jump up to: a b c Menconi, David (March 14, 2010). "The riff that lifted rap". News & Observer. Retrieved 2010-04-19. Jump up ^ "Billboard Hot 100 Chart History". Song-database.com. Retrieved February 10, 2014. Jump up ^ Billboard - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. December 8, 1979. Retrieved 2014-02-10. Jump up ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2014-02-10. ^ Jump up to: a b George, Nelson (1988). The Death of Rhythm & Blues. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. p. 191. ISBN 0142004081. Retrieved June 16, 2015. Jump up ^ Soundcloud: Rappers Delight 25th Anniversary Special | BBC Radio 1Xtra Jump up ^ Read, Max (February 20, 2014). "Brian Williams Does a Perfect "Cover" of "Rapper's Delight" on Tonight". Gawker. Jump up ^ "Brian Williams Raps Rapper's Delight". Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon NBC. 2014. Jump up ^ "Australian-charts.com – The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Austriancharts.at – The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Top Singles - Volume 32, No. 18, January 26, 1980". RPM. Retrieved February 17, 2012. Jump up ^ InfoDisc Jump up ^ "Musicline.de – The Sugarhill Gang Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – The Sugarhill Gang search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Charts.org.nz – The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight". VG-lista. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Swedishcharts.com – The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight". Singles Top 100. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Swisscharts.com – The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "Sugarhill Gang: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 22, 2011. Jump up ^ "The Sugarhill Gang – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for The Sugarhill Gang. Jump up ^ "Canadian 1980 Top 100 Singles". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 24 January 2014. Jump up ^ http://top.france.free.fr/html/annuel/1980.htm Jump up ^ "Canadian single certifications – Sugar Hill Gang – Rapper's Delight". Music Canada. Jump up ^ Sólo Éxitos 1959-2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979-1990 (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. ISBN 8480486392. Jump up ^ "British single certifications – Sugarhill Gang – Rapper's Delight". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Rapper's Delight in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search Jump up ^ http://www.infodisc.fr/S_ToutTemps.php?debut=350 External links Rapper's Delight on National Public Radio Official Music Video Silver jubilee for first rap hit — BBC article about the single on its 25th anniversary The Story of Rapper's Delight by Nile Rodgers The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century - NPR Category:1979 singles Category:Debut singles Category:Funk-rap songs Category:The Sugarhill Gang songs Category:Songs written by Bernard Edwards Category:Songs written by Nile Rodgers Category:Songs written by Sylvia Robinson Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings Category:Number-one debut singles